Spin spin spin :)

Hello everyone! I hope you are having a relaxing Good Friday.  I'm having a really lazy day, a much wanted lie-in in the morning, hot cross buns for breakfast (ok, brunch then!) followed by a nice long walk around the lake, then some spinning... I like lazy days :)

First a quick update with what's happening with my crafts. Remember Tricky Tricsi the little cardigan I was making for my goddaughter? Well it's proved to be tricky alright, I've got to almost finishing the yoke and sleeve caps then realised that it might be too small, after checking with my friend for measurements it was apparent that I had to frog and restart again. It was my fault really that I didn't do a proper swatch, also I was using a fingering weight yarn rather than the recommended DK weight by the pattern, plus maths was never my forte, etc., etc., ... anyway I will have to start it again, maybe with 2 strands held together rather than trying to re-calculate, we shall see.

At least I was more successful on the spinning front, and managed to finish a few skeins that I was quite pleased about.

This is from a dyed merino top I recently bought, I love the colours but they came off and stained my hands while I was spinning, so I soaked the skein in a white vinegar solution and steamed it to set the dye, hopefully the colours won't run again in later washes. I actually just finished another skein from the same top, it's soaking right now.

This is made from a hot pink merino top that I blended with some pure finn and alpaca that I dyed a pale pink myself. I made rolags and spun semi worsted, I still can't spin pure woollen but I shall persevere. The merino top came from the same source as above, the colour also came off and I had pink hands after spinning, and I now also have a pair of pink hand carders! The skein had the same vinegar treatment as above.

But I am most proud of these skeins of a wool/alpaca blend, I bought the slivers from the backroom of Bendigo Woollen Mills when I went to Bendigo for a job - couldn't resist the opportunity and I'm so glad I did ;-)  The slivers are so easy to spin and so smooth, now I know what it means when someone says "it spins like butter", it's pure bliss!

It's been a while since I talked about my work, so today I will finish with a little anecdote. If you've been reading my blog for a while you will know that my work takes me to all sorts of places, here's another example.... in the last couple of weeks I haven't been able to take Elliot to his piano lessons and this is what he told his teacher: "My mum went to court last week and this week she's in prison!" - well that seems to follow the natural order of things ;-)

Happy Easter to you all!

Thanks for dropping by, there is more fibre arts fun at Wisdom Begins in Wonder. Indulge your creative side and join the party!

p.s. Our big trip has been confirmed, it's called "around the world in 40 days", more details later :)